I need to know how some information at the bottom of the file before I decide which rule set to use

Maybe you can use File::ReadBackwards to find the information you need, then jump back to the start of the file and read forwards. If memory isn't an issue, then it may not matter, but anytime I see a file that large being slurped for a linear scan, I wonder if it could be done line by line instead.

-xdg

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